A faction willing to take the risks of making war on the ossified status quo in the Middle East can be described as many things, but not as conservative.

The press is still investing itself, it seems to me, in a sort of cynicism. It comes out better for them if they can predict hard times, bogging down, sniping, attrition.

Morality comes from humanism and is stolen by religion for its own purposes.

Who are your favourite heroines in real life? The women of Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran who risk their lives and their beauty to defy the foulness of theocracy. Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Azar Nafisi as their ideal feminine model.

The suicide-bombing community is not absolutely 100 percent religious, but it is pretty nearly 100 percent religious.

Beautiful sentences pop into my head. Beautiful sentences that aren't always absolutely accurate. Then, I have to choose between the beautiful sentence and being absolutely accurate. It can be a difficult choice.

In our time, the symbol of state intrusion into the private life is the mandatory urine test.